Hello from Minnesota! Cleaning out space, letting go of stuff that no longer fits on my journey. Reflecting on my travels, as an integrating two spirited, son, & father, handling things that used to baffle me, neither living in the past nor closing the door on it, blessed by the support of my emerging family of choice. Thanks to the ancestors, those who share this journey. Peace love joy. Wichozani! Mitakuye Oyasin, “we are all related” “Wir sind all Verwanten” “nous sommes tous relies.”

Friday, September 17, 2010

On Wednesday morning I took the train to meet Carleton classmate Harry McLachlan in Darien and we promptly drove by Westport-Weston, where my brother Jim married back in the 60's, to meet our fellow classmate Burt Saxon in Milford. Here is Burt with his "rogues gallery" of photos in his upper room, that includes a photo of him with George W Bush in the white house where he was honored at CT Teacher of the Year. (He was coached not to bring up the "war".) Burt mentioned that he was connected to Yale, GW's alma mater, where Burt has given talks in 11 out of the 12 Yale Colleges over the years. Here are Burt and Harry, in front of the home Burt lives in near Long Island Sound. He describes the governance as a borough and how he has been active in the community for several years.Here are Harry and Burt overlooking the Borough of Woodmont's beach. Quite idyllic on this day!After a lunch at the local Japanese Wasabi Restaurant in Milford, we headed to the Yale Campus and visited the Art Museum. Here are a couple of iconic views of the campus.

Back in Manhattan, I visited St Mark’s in the Bowery with Mike Relyea who has served as an Episcopal minister here over the years. Peter Stuyvesant, Founder of New Amsterdam is buried here and here is a bust of the guy. Mike thinks his nose and face are reminiscent of his speech teacher at Faribault High School, Ed Silvis. Ed was a good friend of my parents. Here is Mike, seated on the west side of the church wherehe says the placement of ashes after services is still happening in the earth. Mike’s wife, Marlena, says "The Native American Madonna was designed and drawn on the wall by a church memberDuane Stapp. I motivated his research and filled in the colours." Marlena is originally from Germany.Here is Mike again on the east side with a colleague at St Marks.Here is the farmers market in front of the church that we passed through on our way to the subway and Forrest Hills in Queens

On a sunny Tuesday, I ventured from the Upper West Side to the Ground Zero Site to see what is going on. Humming activity here with construction. When I walked to the controversial mosque development site at 51 W Broadway, I was grateful to see there was NO drama being acted out there today. Grateful for the very helpful NYPD folks and all. I walked east to the 911 Memorial Planning site just across the street from the church here, St Paul's Chapel. Here I saw the current vision of what is being built on the site and what it might look like.This iron cross memorial is on the street nearby. I sense a lot of New Yorkers are going back to business as usual nine years after the plane hit the towers. From here I walked to the City Hall area at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge on this blue sky day.I am struck by the blend of greenery and the image of this stone towered suspension bridge that was the first of its kind in the history of bridge engineering!I bit of drama began here as a helicopter and emergency vehicles headed onto the bridge. I kept walking not wanting to be a “gawker” when at the Brooklyn End one of the traffic officers (from the Dominican Republic) said a guy climbed out like he was going to jump and they talked him down.After a great lunch at RICENY in the art area of Brooklyn near the water, Matthew Heckart and I went to view the bridge from below. Here is a photo of Matthew who recently received a monetary award to finish his Masters work. Really wonderful he has been award for his advocacy for GLBT amnesty work. Check out the link to to learn more http://design.sva.edu/site/blog/show/262 - Way to go Matthew!

Monday, September 13, 2010

On my way north Saturday Sept 4, Sue had asked me to work with Jesse and Nate to clean out the gutter on the house and put back the big planter that was knocked off the front porch by local revelers. Here are Jesse and Amy looking back at the ladder we set up from the view of the back yard, Amy, Jesse and Sue steadying the ladder extended for me to remove the plants and debris in the gutter. Nate, Sue and feline with Amy support at dining room table prior to going to the porch to replace the planter.Jesse in the living room sharing in his dance and eagerness to get on with the work at hand. Here are Amy, Sue and Jesse surveying the damage and the flower urn on the porch.Susannah, Jesse and Nate getting ready to put the flower urn back on the porch pedestal.